Mother Teresa’s birthday passes off quietly in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, (IANS) The 106th birthday of Mother Teresa went almost unnoticed in Kerala on Friday although arrangements are in full swing here to commemorate her cononisation at the Vatican on September 4.

Catholics in Kerala constitute 50 per cent of the 61.41 lakh Christians in the 334 lakh Kerala population.

There are three churches in Kerala that owe their allegiance to Vatican — the Syro Malabar Church, the Latin Rite dioceses and the Syro Malankara Catholic Church.

Spokesperson of the Latin diocese Eugene Pereira said there were no celebrations on Friday on account of the birthday of Mother Teresa but they have organised two programmes on September 4 and 5 to celebrate the canonisation.

Spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Church said there was an assembly on Friday at their Ernakulam diocese where they made a reference to her birthday.

Likewise, the Syro Malankara Catholic Church, which is headquartered in the state capital, also did not have any birthday celebrations for Mother Teresa.

Currently, Catholics here have three native saints Kuriakose Elias Chavara, popularly known as Chavara Achen; Sister Euphrasia, popularly known as Evuprasiamma (both canonised in 2014) and Sister Alphonsa who in 2008 became the first native Indian to be canonized.